Welcome to Freedom City (M&M 3e; PL10/150pp)

[JudgeA]

Alright, is this going to be set in modern times with our smartphones and flat screen HD televisions, as well as whatever superscience has been brought to light by the likes of MarsTech or whatever?

[kenmadragon]

Caelus

Abilities: 48
Strength 1, Stamina 3, Agility 3, Dexterity 3, Fighting 3, Intellect 2, Awareness 7, Presence 2

Skills: 13
Acrobatics 2 (+5), Expertise: Popular Culture 3 (+5), Insight 2 (+9), Perception 2 (+9), Ranged Combat: Psionics 7 (+10), Technology 10 (+12)

Advantages: 5
Benefit (l337 h4x0r s|<177z), Eidetic Memory, Extraordinary Effort, Luck, Inventor

Presence Bonus: Animal Empathy, Attractive

Powers: 64
Psychic: Senses 1 (Mental Awareness)
Psionic Levitation: Flight 1
Telekinetic Field: Protection 9
Psionic Power (45 Point Dynamic Array)
. . Psychokinesis: Move Object 20 [extras: Damaging (10); flaws: Limited to Non-Combat (10); feats: Dynamic, Precise]
. . . DAE: Telepathy: Mind Reading 10 Linked: Communication 4 (Mental) [feats: Dynamic]
. . . DAE: Force Fields: Create 10 (Force Objects) [extras: Impervious, Movable, Stationary; feats: Dynamic]
. . . DAE: Telekinetic Flight: Enhanced Flight 12 [feats: Dynamic]

Defenses: 20
Toughness 3/12, Dodge 8, Parry 8, Fortitude 7, Willpower 13

Abilities 48 + Skills 13 + Advantages 5 + Powers 64 + Defenses 20 = 150 PP

Notes:
Benefit (l33t h4x0r s|<177z): Provides a +5 bonus to Technology when dealing with Computers and the like. It also lets him use Technology to play video-games. For those who don't know leetspeak (of which I am really out of practice), the name translates to "elite hacker skills". Essentially, it lets him pull stuff like Largo from Megatokyo.

Complications:
Motivation - It's Fun To Be The Good Guy If the world is a stage, then Caelus is definitely a protagonist - not an antagonist. And given his love of superheroes, Caelus is definitely gonna be a heroic protagonist. That, and his mom would kill him if he was a bad guy.
Enemy - Lady Lunar Given that Lincoln's part-alien royalty from the lunar metropolis of Farside City, he is likely to be lumped with the Atom Family as possible-impediments to the throne of Farside City. Good thing she's still locked up on the other side of the moon, no longer possess the Moonstone, and hasn't heard of Lincoln. Yet.
Quirk - A Geek Lincoln is a geek. And a nerd. Normally, this is of no real interest to anyone. But it seems to let him get along with anyone else who happens to share his geeky interests, while at the same time as making him seem rather strange when he starts to "geek-out". Sometimes this can distract him when he starts to rant.
Relationship - The Atom Family Lincoln's grandfather was a Farside royal like Mentac - the father of the current Atom Family. So, Lincoln is indeed related to the Atom Family. He is on speaking terms with them, though Jack Wolf doesn't seem to like him very much. Chase and Lincoln get on famously - they both play rpgs.
Secret - Identity Caelus is actually Windsor Heathcliff Fletcher. Yes, really. That's his real name. Yes, he was picked on a lot. "Lincoln" is the nickname he's gone by since elementary school, and the one he tells everyone to call him by. Had he been born on Farside, however, Jericho's records indicate he would have been named "Caelus". He keeps his heroic identity a secret from all but the Atom Family.

Background:
Many years ago, on the dark side of the Moon, there was a magnificent civlization - a city, by the name of Farside City - whose leaders were being slaughtered by a threat from within. Her name was Selene, a daughter of Farside's royal family, yet cursed with "mind-blindess". In her lust for the power that eluded her, she stole the city's treasured relic, the Moonstone, and utilized it's immense power to trigger her latent psionic powers. Immediately turning upon her family in her madness, Selene bagan her reign of terror over Farside City with familicide - the systematic destruction of the royal blood-line.

The older and more powerful royals attempted a defense against this unthinkable coup, to stave off the threat that had festered within their ranks, unseen. Among them was the young Prince Jericho, brother to the King. A powerful mentat, Prince Jericho utilized his magnificent psychic abilities to buy the rest of his family some time to escape Selene's slaughter - her madness unwilling to allow mercy to neither women, nor children. His power was strong and his skills were exceptional, but all Prince Jericho could do was buy the royals time by holding her off and delaying her with psychokinetic combat while creating mental barriers and mazes to confound her. But in the end, even Prince Jericho was no match for the might of the Moonstone relic. In anger for having delayed her familicide, Selene used the Moonstone to psychically disntigrate the brave Prince Jericho's form, leaving naught but moondust where he once stood. Eventually, Selene would catch up with the royals who fled the palace, then through the force of her power demand their public execution. Once the monarchy had been slain, she installed herself as Lady Lunar, ruler of Farside City. However, Prince Jericho's sacrifice had not been in vain. He had managed to guarantee the safety of at least one innocent life: Prince Mentac, Jericho's youngest nephew, had been bought enough time to be launched to the safety of Earth.

Most would think that was the end of Prince Jericho's story, but Fate had other plans. As his body had been destroyed, the skillful mentat Prince Jericho detached his mind and escaped into the astral realm. There he was trapped, devoid of mortal tether. Cast about on the astral ocean, Prince Jericho fought to sustain himself, attempting to find a way home before all that remained of him were the tattered remaind of a psyche. He needed a body to mold to his features and liking, one that no one would mind if he claimed. But as many scholars would note, the passage of time is not so much a linear path, but an ocean. So when Prince Jericho found a suitable host, it was not who he might have expected, nor when he would have believed.

A young man stood on the edge of the Golden Gate Bridge, teetering over the edge. His name was Nathaniel J. Fletcher, aged 26, and his parents had died three years ago in a car crash on this very bridge. Now his girlfriend had left him for his best friend. His boss had fired him from the job he slaved for and debtors hounded him for their money. And on top of it all, he had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness. He didn't have the money to fight for his life, nor the will to keep going. Nathaniel Fletcher took his own life on that bridge, and in that moment when the soul had fled the body just before it truly died, Prince Jericho of Farside saw his oppurtunity. Lifeless, but not dead, the body was taken over by the psychic entity that was once Prince Jericho and over-wrote the host's genetics to ensure the Farside royal would continue his existence. A transformation that defied conventional medicine eradicated the illness and morphed the form into something nearly unique - a Farside Royal hybridized with a human. Nathaniel Fletcher died that October night, and from the waters, a new man arose.

Emerging from the waters of San Francisco Bay, Jericho took measure of his surroundings. It was the mid-1900s and he was in San Francisco, California, United States of America. Earth. Jericho had ended up decades before his own destruction at the hands of Selene, stranded on Earth. His powers had been diminished by the ordeal of returning from the dead the way he had. He had all the psychic strength he needed to meet his goals on Earth, but he'd never make the jump back to the Moon in time to stop Selene. And violating causality wasn't something he wished to do idly.

So, Jericho made do. Taking on the life of the dead Nathaniel Fletcher, Prince Jericho got a job and used the savvy of a royal to make his way up the ladder of the business world. Once out of debt, Jericho did very well for himself, as the royal education was easily adjusted to suit Earth business models. Eventually, he would fall in love with an Earthling (something the royal in him would have thought impossible, before), and get married. He would have a son, a wife he loved, a job he excelled at, and a life he was actually content with. His son would grow up, and make a family of his own, giving him a grandson and a legacy. Farside City almost seemed like a distant memory.

Upon his death-bed, he created a crystal, within which he used Farside/Ancient-Preserver technology to create a digital archive of his story, his thoughts and his memories. A psychic remnant of his mind, sustained for eternity. So that when he finally died of natural causes, and if any of his earthly descendants developed the mental powers the royal blood of Farside City possessed, they would understand why they had their abilities, and what to do with them. He would guide them from beyond the grave, and warn them of the murderer who might see them as a threat.

Then one day, his grandson found the crystal... and Prince Jericho knew his psionic gift had indeed been passed on. It was a miracle.

--------------

His name was Windsor Heathcliff Fletcher, but for some inexplicable reason, preferred to be known as "Lincoln" The country's sixteenth president's name, for whatever reason, but that mattered little to the point that it wasn't an embarassing name kids could make fun of. Though, he honestly hadn't considered that one day he would be the one to hold back from unloading righteous vengeance on those who mocked his names.

Well, at least he hadn't been unfortunate enough to be named Windsor Theodore Fletcher. That would have been worse.

Lincoln always shuddered at the thought.

Nevertheless, he hadn't known his grandfather all that well. His parents weren't really willing to explain exactly why, but Lincoln suspected it was because they hadn't ever understood the man. Not that Lincoln could really judge, beacuse his grandpa had went to live on the dark side of the Moon when Lincoln was younger.

Lincoln later learned when he was older that this was his parents' euphemism for dying. It was shockingly ironic.

So when he chanced upon his grandfather's posessions one evening after a particularly harsh day, he was immediately drawn to the crystal structures that had started growing in the attic. And after breaking off a piece, found that it contained his grandfather's mind.

And the truths that had been told when his Grandpa Nat had started talking about mental powers and the strength of will and focus were confusing, and they haunted Lincoln's dreams ever since.

He had to muster the courage to go back and talk to the crystals again, when the bed had started hovering in his sleep. And when he started other people thinking.

Lincoln wanted it to go away, like he wanted people to stop laughing at his embarassing given names.

But unlike his given names, he couldn't just get a new one, the crystals had informed him. He had to learn how to make them grow. Master them and make them his. Then he could live with control.

So he did.

Lincoln studied the crystals, learned from their memories and practiced the visualization exercises. He gained focus and concentration, and learned how to focus it.

When his family moved, he took the crystals with him, and thrived.

Years later, he was strong enough to start asking the harder questions. Like where his grandfather had come from. The irony of where his parents had said Grandpa Nat had gone when Lincoln was a child was horrifying. But he understood, and kept on track to live a normal life.

But Lincoln couldn't help but dream of perhaps being a hero. It wouldn't have been hard. But he had made promises to his parents to get a degree, and Grandpa Nat had told him that his parents couldn't be told about Farside.

It was too dangerous for them to even know - they would have no defense against any mentat who thought to look.

So Lincoln lived in Freedom City and trained his skills, cheering on his heroes and idols from amongst the crowd, while his heart desired to soar with them through the skies so high.

He was in high school when the Atom Family found out about him after an attempt to scan for Cosmo when he was missing during a mission. They'd tried to find "an entity from the Moon" on their scanners, and somehow their scan had found Lincoln.

The Atoms were thrilled. Lincoln was thrilled. His relatives from the other side of the Moon weren't all gone. He had cousins!

He made friends with them quickly, and while his scientific acumen fell short of Tesla's he was a wizard with computers, as evidenced by his sheer skill in the area. He and Chase got on famously, and bonded over a love of games. Vicky teased him, and Maximus was the brother his age he'd never had. Sure, he still had to keep Grandpa Nat's crystals safe, and his parents were relatively in the dark to preserve them against the threat of Lady Lunar (who he was glad to hear had been deposed), but everything was going well. The Atoms had tried talking him into joining them in their adventures (much to Jack Wolf's dismay), but Lincoln didn't know how he could explain that to his parents. "Hey Mom, Dad, I'm going to hang with those cousins you never knew I had on an underwater mission to Atlantis this weekend, bye!" Not to mention Grandpa Nat was less than enthusiastic about putting himself out there as a psychic. Old habits died hard.

But when he graduated from college... once he had found a job... then he would have Grandpa Nat's blessing to be a hero. To "sow his wild oats and show off like any youngster". It was his dream and goal since he was a child discovering he had powers no one else did. So what if he did a little vigilantism on the side until then?

By his twenty-sided dice, Lincoln would be a hero!

Appearance:
The familial resemblence to the adventurous foursome, the Atom Family, is remarkable. On the taller side of average, Lincoln is lean with a swimmer's physique. His body isn't too athletic, but he's agile and quick, though not to a noticeable level when compared to some supers. His hark is dark black and eyes bright, and facial features regal and sharp. It's not a conventional handsome, but since he typically lets his hair get messy, and wears glasses to fit in with his compatriots. His favored attire involves sneakers, jeans, and a t-shirt under a comfortable hoodie.

As Caelus, he has yet to truly finalize a costume - prefererring to just use the "spare" meta-molecular suit he borrows from his cousins and adds a cape "because capes are classic". Thankfully, the capes are quick-release, because he has no inclination to get into cape-accidents. For the most part, he sticks to muted colors like Maximus and Chase, and tries not to get embarrassed by it's form-fitting tights. Sometimes he telekinetically grabs nearby detritus in order to form improvised armor to cover up while the meta-molecular suit activates to cover him.

Powers and Abilities:
As befitting someone with the blood of a Farsider royal, Caelus is a reasonably skilled mentat. When focused, his skills in psychokinetics is remarkable, though require singular concentration. Comparitively, his telepathic and sensory powers are rather flagging in due part to his lack of targets to practice with - it's rather unethical to practice telepathy on unwilling subjects. As a child, the only subject to practice with was his Grandfather's Mind-Crystal and his lack of talent in the area made such practice difficult. He occasionally trains his telepathy with his cousin Chase Atom, but these sessions are few and far between.

On the more mundane side, Lincoln is remarkably perceptive and self-aware, a natural result of heavy training in psionic energies. His physique isn't so exceptional, though training in psionics led to slight improvements in general health. He also had to quickly learn the basics of tumbling and acrobatics (at the bare minimum) in order to survive random practice sessions in the Atom's' Danger Room at Jack Wolf's insistence. Suffice to say, compared to trained superheroes, he pales in comparison in the physical fields, and isn't much of a melee combatant without judicious application of tactile-telekinesis. In addition, he is of above average intelligence which is coupled with a near-photographic memory trained over his admittedly short life-time. Couple this with an avid interest in electronics and computers led Lincoln to learn and master the skills needed to tinker with such devices and make games himself, while at the same time using those same technical skills to access information and have a part-time job as a White Hat hacker: making money by attempting to breach computer defenses then collecting the reward for reporting these weaknesses.

Work in Progress?

Psionic Power (45 Point Dynamic Array)
. . Psychokinesis: Move Object 17 [extras: Damaging (10); feats: Dynamic, Precise]
. . . DAE: Telepathy: Mind Reading 10 Linked: Communication 4 (Mental) [feats: Dynamic, Subtle]
. . . DAE: Force Fields: Create 10 (Force Objects) [extras: Impervious, Movable, Stationary; feats: Dynamic]
. . . DAE: Telekinetic Flight: Enhanced Flight 12 [feats: Dynamic]

[StarGuard]

Fuzzyboots: thank you for the links and info

H4H: would you be receptive to a incarnation of the Scarab powered by a mystical artifact?

Inspired by my love of Roy Thomas.


but linked to the Freedom City Universe's Scarab. Which I need to collect more information on




Edit: damn looks like Scarab of Freedom City would duplicate Kenmadragon's character hmmm?

[JudgeA]

^That, but beefier^

v This Beefy v

Name: Dave Murdock
Alias: Bullet Train
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Occupation: College Football Player

ABILITIES
STR: 6 (4) STA: 6 (4) AGI: 3 DEX: 0
FGT: 3 INT: 1 AWE: 4 PRE: 2

POWERS
Big Guy: Growth 2 (+2 STR and STA, +1 Intimidate, +2 Mass Ranks, -2 Stealth, -1 Dodge and Parry), Permanent, Innate - 5 Points

Bullet Train: Super Speed 12; Immunity 1 (Own Slam Damage); Movement 3 (Wallcrawling 2, Water Walking), Limited to While Moving - 40 Points

Too Fast to Follow: Enhanced Defenses 22 (Dodge 11, Parry 11) - 22 Points

Rapid Punches: Strength-Based Multiattack Damage, Accurate 4 (+14) - 10 Points
AE: Different Rapid Punches: Selective Burst Area Strength-Based Damage, 2 Ranks Unreliable (5 Uses) - 1 Point

SKILLS
Acrobatics 4 (+7), Athletics 6 (+12), Intimidate 8 (+11), Perception 4 (+8)

ADVANTAGES
Close Attack 3 (+6), Evasion, Instant-Up, Move-By Action, Teamwork

Presence Advantages: Set-Up, Daze (Intimidate)

DEFENSES
Dodge: 14
Parry: 14
Tough: 6
Fort: 10
Will: 10

OFFENSES
Init: +52
Unarmed +6 Close Damage 6 (DC21)
Slam Attack +6 Close Damage 12 (DC27)
Rapid Punches +14 Multiattack Close Damage 6 (DC21)
Different Rapid Punches Selective Burst Area Damage 6 (Dodge DC 16, DC21), 4 After 5 Uses (Dodge DC14, DC19)

POWER POINTS
Abilities: 42
Powers: 78
Skills: 11
Advantages: 7
Defenses: 12
Total: 150/150

COMPLICATIONS
Motivation - Thrills: He moved to Freedom City one part for the football team, and one part for the excitement. Now that he's got this Super Speed, and not a lot else to do, he's more than happy with using it to fight crime, just like the greats.

Family: His parents live on the other side of the country, but they can still be targeted by particularly spiteful enemies. They may also come by for a visit to make that a more viable option for less spiteful enemies.

Guilt: He lives with a lot of guilt about his origin story. Getting his powers from a drug, discovering they were permanent when he sprinted across the nation in 15 minutes to punch out his best friend to stop a school shooting. A lot of bad choices lead to where he is now, and people could easily break his spirit if they knew. So he lies about his origin.

Stamina Powered (Power Loss): While the life-burning side-effects of Zoom are gone, his power still eats stamina. While he's Fatigued, his speed ranks are halved (rounding down), and while he's Exhausted, his powers won't activate at all.

Backstory: He was good, maybe even great. A world of potential rested before him, he was moving while the world stood still. That was how his peers saw him. Throughout his gradeschool years, Dave was a pretty reknown individual, standing head and shoulders above his fellow gradeschoolers. He was an early bloomer in the best sense, which lead him to be feared as a freak, standing at a whopping 5'7" before leaving fifth grade. Some of his best friends were simply other freaks, one super smart bald kid, one spunky foreign kid, some trailer trash kid who always smelled like a wet possum. But one of this other friends, probably the guy he called his best friend, was just a guy.

Andre Conway was probably the most typical kid you'd ever meet, you couldn't pick him out of a crowd without marking him with a stamp of some sort. Nothing about him really stood out, except for the fact that he hung out with the tall guy. He had dreams though, dreams like any other person. Since a young age, both Andre and Dave were fans of American Football, one of the most hyped sports amongst the male population of the United States. They often shared their fantasies of being on the field, and played catch, sometimes touch football when they could gather enough friends when they were young.

When they were in middle school, they finally had the opportunity to start living their dream. Of course, when Dave showed up to try outs, he was let in almost without having to show them that he could run pretty swiftly for a kid his size. Andre, the smaller of the two, managed to get in on his first try as well, all that practice with the big guy paid off. A couple of linebackers in their element, as long as they were playing, their team pretty much wiped the opponents, they went to the middle school nationals, and lost because of something fishy. See, one of the opponents on the opposing team was a superhuman, someone who used their powers to cheat even at their young age.

Judging by their memories of the event he must have been some kind of gravity manipulator or telekinetic, but he was incredibly subtle about it, and because of this, the team with the linebackers known as the "Double Dragons" was soundly defeated. Despite their loss, they were unfettered, it only made their drive stonger. It happened again the following year, the same kid, the same invisble powers that let him push aside people twice his weight like they were a revolving door. The second time was unforgivable; It was one thing to steal the dreams from more deserving kids once, it was another thing entirely to continue doing so as if nothing is wrong.

Dave decided that his only possible course of action was to train harder. He was determined to become the best, better than a superhuman. Meanwhile his friend seemed to grow more distant, he appeared to have given up on his dreams. After a pep talk from Dave, Andre responded with, "I've got an idea. Don't worry about me too much." The way he phrased it unnerved the tall kid, who was now a towering 6'3" tall, but his genuine smile was reassuring as well. Dave let it go, and continued his fierce workouts.

Indeed the 8th grade championships came around, and the Double Dragons were in them, along with those other guys who were carried by their superpowered freak of a running-back. Dave was now intimidatingly muscular, while Andre... stayed roughly the same. In the first half of the game, Dave attempted to prove that all he needed to take the trophy home this time was a great deal of training and hard work. He pushed himself to the breaking point, and managed to pull off two touchdowns by altogether juking the superkid and sprinting like the wind to the end zone. It was the best he could do while also attempting to prevent the superkid from getting the ball, walling him off with his size. Unfortunately, the best he could do was tie the game up.

Andre was warming the bench for that game, plotting something. In the second half, he stepped onto the turf for about a single down's worth of playtime. In this time he would immediately go after the superhuman running back. Not many people caught it, since Andre was pretty hard to pick out of a crowd, but at the very last second, Andre would gain a tremendous burst of speed over a couple of feet, and sacked the kid viciously. In an ordinary case, Andre might have winded the kid and gave him whiplash. In this instance, however, he shattered four of his ribs, and the whiplash gave him a serious concussion.

While he was called off the field for the rest of the game as a penalty, Andre left smiling rather deviously. Without their running back, Dave almost single-handedly won the rest of the match. This event was what carried him through the rest of his career, through high school. Andre moved after middle school ended and they never saw eachother again. Dave was a reknown player, strong, tough, could lift three of his peers with one flexed arms, a towering example of the male genotype, 6'8" by Senior year.

Then he moved on to college, on a football scholarship. His reputation preceded him, but he only had one place in mind, the best possibly place for him in his opinion, and they wanted him just as much as he wanted them. Freedom College held one of the most prestigious football teams in the United States, as well as being located in one of the most exciting areas in the nation. Alien Invasions, flying supermen, technology beyond his wildest imagination! Indeed, Freedom City was his holy land throughout his youth, his goal, the land he would call his home.

It was here that he would meet his friend Andre Conway once again, and of course they hit it off like old times. As if by fate, they were assigned as roommates in the dorms, and they lived it up like old times. Dave never thought to ask about that time in middle school where his friend almost killed another kid with the force of his tackle alone. It never came up either. Year after year they were competing against the best of the best, but it was never a superhuman toying around with the hard work of mere humans. Until recently that is... Their team was crushed by another superhuman competitor... a different one from the first, but it felt nostaligic to be defeated so soundly by someone with godlike powers, disguising them as talent.

Andre would finally bring up that time in the past himself, asking Dave if he wanted to know how he did it. Dave would nod silently unsure of what to think. Indeed it was as he feared, his best friend resorted so some kind of super steroid in middle school that gave him immense power at the cost of some of his lifespan. "Why are you telling me this?" Dave asked his best friend... and Andre replied with that same genuine smile from before, "Because... I've got a plan."

He was good, maybe even great. Dave was a star athlete in his prime, a bright future rested before him. But he was no superhuman, he couldn't compete with someone capable of bending the laws of physics to their advantage, had no ability to fend off the effects of mind control. He was a mortal man, made of flesh and bone, and maybe a metal plate somewhere in his skull but that's unimportant. He could push his team to the last game with his own merit, but he couldn't defeat a god, not on his own. Andre was a smart kid, if not pretty amoral, but he was also Dave's friend. He was someone that Dave clearly felt had his best interests in mind.

So Dave went along with this plan, and before the final game, against the same team who defeated his earlier in the season, Andre revealed his secret weapon: Zoom. Dave had heard rumors about this particular drug through hearsay and occasional bouts of eavesdropping, but he never thought that he'd see it in his lifetime. "See Dave, I can't use this shit anymore. I'm cut to keeling over in my thirties, but you... You've got a whole lifespan ahead of you. If it's only once, you can still live well into your nineties, hypothetically," spoke Andre.

"I don't know, man, I think we might be able to beat him this time," Dave would respond.

"Oh yeah, just like you could 'Beat the superkid this time' back in middle school, right?" Andre would reply with a bit of venom in his tone, "Face it, without Zoom that team's gonna leave us in the dirt a second time. Now then, how about it... Just one time and we'll call it even."

"Even?" Dave would ask, "I never asked you to do it to begin with."

"Sure, sure. But without me doing it, you'd have lost again. Because of me, you won that game, and your life up until now has been a total breeze. If that ain't a favor, then I don't know what is," responded Andre.

"..." Dave was unable to think of something to reply with, eyeballing the hypodermic needle containing the chemical.

"C'mon, what's the matter? Are you afraid of needles? Is that it?"

"Fine... But after this, never again, you hear me?"

"Of course, buddy. I'd never ask this of you to begin with if it wasn't absolutely necessary. We can forget all about this when we've won," Andre said in a reassuring tone.

"Will it be enough?"

"Don't you worry a hair on your head. I made sure to get a little extra so that it could affect someone of your, eh... stature. One dose of this and you'll be faster than a bullet train on demand."

"Makes sense, alright, let's do this," resolved Dave.

A sharp pain later, he was injected with a mysterious chemical compound that was supposed to give him superhuman speed. "Now then, remember the effect is totally will-based, you want to go fast, you gotta think about going faster. The effects will kick in soon, so lets get ourselves in there..."

"Ahem..." cleared a familiar throat. The two of them turned around slowly. "Are you... taking steroids? You are aware that this is a highly illegal action not only by the standards of College Football, but by the Law, aren't you?" spoke the voice associated with that stuffy throat. It was their coach.

"Uhhh... Of course not, Coach," Andre would reply, still holding the needle, though quickly making a futil effort to hide it.

The coach stared intently at Dave for a moment. Dave gave him a look like a deer in headlights, unable to vocalize anything from fear. Coach sighed and shook his head, "Look I understand how you feel, the opposing team is amazing, they stomped us almost flawlessly last time. But drugs are not the solution, you hear me!?"

Dave would kneel down before his coach and begin pleading, "Please don't turn me in Coach! If you don't want me to play, I won't, but don't turn me over to the officials! I'll never do it again!"

The coach looked at the pathetic scene before him, taking it in. One of his star players taking steroids, now begging for mercy. "How long have you been doing this?" he would ask Dave.

"I swear, Coach, this is the first and only time!" Dave would reply.

"Fine. Go home and I'll tell everyone you suddenly got sick. You're off the team for the rest of the season, so you won't get tested. But I swear to God, Murdock, if you do drugs again, any drug, I'll turn you over to the police so fast your life will flash before your eyes and you'll be in a jail cell before it finishes. Capiche!?" the coach would forgive, then threaten.

"C-Capiche!" Dave would comply, before getting his clothes back on and leaving without another word.

He was humiliated, unable to believe that he let his best friend talk him into doing some stupid miracle drug, instead of the other way around. He was so humiliated that all he wanted to do was run... So he did. He ran away from football, he ran far away from Freedom College, he took off. After a few minutes of running he felt his stamina redouble. Suddenly, he felt it in his veins, the power surging through him. He tried it out... and suddenly he was fast. He was really fast. Stupid fast. Super fast.

Before he could even consider stopping he was outrunning cars. Suddenly he really wanted to go somewhere, where he could feel safe. So he ran home, his speed rapidly increasing as he shot down the roads at speeds he couldn't believe. This one-time superhuman experience was going to be something he remembered for his whole life. Within an hour he had made it from the Freedom City coast to the coast on the opposite side of the country, 3000 miles away.... He'd run home. However, all that running, the immense boost to his speed, had caused his body to metabolize the Zoom in a much shorter timeframe that it should have been, not that he knew such.

He finished his jog to his parent's house, and fell down infront of their residence.

He awoke the following day with a throbbing headache, in his old bedroom. He wondered if it had all been a dream, Freedom College, football, Zoom. It was all a blur for a moment, images rapidly flickering in his mind. Yet he could see them clearly, he would stumble downstairs, and his parents would give him that same warm smile, but he knew they looked different. "It wasn't a dream..." he would mutter.

"You know, you should have called if you were coming for a surprise visit, hun," his mom spoke, "Sorry about the new locks. You looked horribly pale when we found you, have you been eating alright?"

Indeed that was his mom... He explained what had happened to his parents, being open hearts with the two of them. "So... you took something that was going to make you better at running, and got booted from the team, so you ran all the way here?" his dad would summerize, then started laughing, "Great story, son, tell another!"

His mother was a little more willing to believe it, but the way Dave looked afterwards she tried to play it off. "No need to mock him, if he wants to visit us, then any excuse will do, won't it?" she reasoned.

Dave sighed and accepted their judgement, it wasn't like he had any proof anyways.

For a few days he stuck around, using the excuse to anyone who called him that he was sick, though never picking up for Andre, never having an excuse to discover something amazing. It wasn't until a few days later, he saw a newscasting that Andre was committing a school shooting. It actually only said that 'School Shooting in Progress at Freedom College', but the video showed Andre, which was enough to get him running.

He had no idea how, but he had to make it to Freedom City before his friend hurt anyone. His need to go faster triggered something in him... a familiar feeling although different. His feet were moving faster than ever before, even while he was on Zoom. His body was sliding through sound barrier after sound barrier, he ran with everything he had. Within 15 minutes, he was back across the country, and with a single punch, he knocked Andre out before he shot one of the students for real.

So there it was... he was super fast. Zips in to save the day faster than anyone could percieve, knocking out a school shooter. Suddenly he was a new legend: a blur that saved the day. He slipped out of there before anyone could see him, and Andre was arrested, no questions asked. When he showed back up at class the next day, everyone told him that he'd missed so much. But he knew...

With nothing to do for the off-season, he's decided to give his powers a test run for real. With a little help from online shopping, he's gotten himself a decent heroing outfit, and decided that he is the train that runs for justice: Bullet Train!

[Camus]

So far the shambala master has not been taken. Question, what's your take on variable?

[RainOnTheSun]

Here's charisma brick. It's an all-male team so far, so she'll be female. Need to find a good picture: Nothing really looks like a comic book brick aside from another comic book brick.

I may have gone just a bit overboard with Presence.





PEACEKEEPER

STRENGTH 12, STAMINA 14, AGILITY 6, DEXTERITY 1, FIGHTING 6, INTELLECT 1, AWARENESS 6, PRESENCE 8 * 108 points

Advantages:
Close Attack 2, Power Attack * 3 points

Presence Advantages:
Attractive 2, Benefit (Cipher), Fascinate (Deception), Languages (French), Set-Up, Skill Mastery: Deception, Taunt

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+8), Deception 7 (+15/+20), Insight 5 (+11), Expertise: Streetwise 9 (+10), Ranged Combat: Throwing 7 (+8), Sleight of Hand 10 (+11) * 20 points

Powers:
Impervious Toughness 9 * 9 points

Leaping 8, Acrobatics check required, 1 Alternate Effect * 5 points
Speed 4

Tremendous Strength - Power-lifting 3, 2 Alternate Effects * 5 points
Bracing - Sustained Impervious Toughness 3 (12 total)
Strong Legs - Leaping 3 (up to 11 total)

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 12, DC 27)
Thrown Object +8

Defense:
Dodge +6, Parry +6, Toughness +14, Fortitude +14, Will +6 * 0 points

Total: Abilities 108 + Advantages 3 + Skills 20 + Powers 19 + Defense 0 = 150

Complications:
Secret (Anti-earthling) - Genevieve is from an alternate earth under the sway of the Tyranny Syndicate, an evil version of the Freedom League. After the accident that tossed her through worlds, she's made learning about her new home her highest priority, but her knowledge is still incomplete and off-kilter. She often sees people who she knew, or at least had heard of, on anti-earth, and has to remind herself that they're different people.
Motivation (Responsibility) - On anti-earth Genevieve's job was to make sure the trains ran on time in dystopia. In her new world she thinks of herself as having the same job without the constant moral compromises.
Bills to Pay - Genevieve doesn't actually have a lot of job skills outside of manipulating people. Her lifestyle isn't as lavish as it used to be, and she takes a lot of odd jobs to make ends meet. If she wanted to, she could make a lot more money as a super-powered mercenary or a con artist, or even just picking pockets, but she tries to resist the temptation to go back to her old way of life.
Doppelganger - The world of Freedom City didn't have a Genevieve Kazan before she came to it, as far as she can tell. This probably just means her parents never met in this world, or something like that, but she still worries that someday, someone almost exactly like her will want to know what she's doing here.

Background:
Genevieve Kazan was born, abandoned, and largely self-raised in the slums of Paris, where she learned an important lesson about the world: In life there were people who had power and people who didn't. People with power got whatever they wanted, and people without it got nothing... unless they could trick or flatter it out of somebody stronger. So Genevieve got good at tricking people and flattering them. When her genetic quirk kicked in, making her stronger and tougher and even more charming than she already was, the Syndicate put her in their Empire City academy for indoctrinating super-powered enforcers. She became the star pupil quickly, not by being powerful or good at fighting, but by playing her rivals off each other and telling her teachers exactly what they wanted to hear. Genevieve graduated from the academy with a cushy job as highly paid muscle for the Syndicate and whatever dictator or crimelord they loaned her out to.

And she hated it. Every day she tried to hold together a hopelessly corrupt society while hurting as few people as possible, without letting the Syndicate know how miserable she was. It came to a head when she decided to help one of Daedalus's pet scientists flee the country instead of turning over his new invention. The Syndicate caught them, but in the battle someone's powers reacted to the invention and threw Genevieve through a hole in space. Or... something. Physics isn't really her field.

All she knows is that she woke up in a cleaner, friendlier Empire City called Freedom City, where nobody knew who she was, the money had differfent faces on it, and the Tyranny Syndicate smiled a lot and helped cats out of trees. She spent a few months feeling things out, learning what was different and what was the same, and decided to start a new life she could be proud of. She calls herself a Peacekeeper instead of an Enforcer now. Basically the same job with a friendlier name, but... this feels like a society worth protecting.

Description: Genevieve is well over six feet tall, strongly built, and somewhat denser than an ordinary human being, but she's so good at presenting herself however she wants to be perceived that people sometimes don't even notice. She wears the nicest civilian clothes she can afford, which are respectable, but not as nice or expensive as the clothes she could afford on anti-earth. She also has a black cape and bodysuit for "official business." It used to be more revealing and have spikes on it, but on this world you can get away with having a less threatening costume.

Personality: Genevieve usually presents a cheerful, even naive face to the world, but she's much more cynical and world-weary than she lets on. Genuine compassion and selflessness amaze her, and she'll do anything to protect them. She doesn't think of herself as having a secret identity: she doesn't tell people she's a mutant, but if she sees an opportunity to help someone with her powers in her daily life, she takes it. If they ask her for an explanation afterwards, she tells them whatever story she feels like, or pretends she doesn't know what they're talking about.

Powers and Abilities: The mutation that made the Tyranny Syndicate put Genevieve in their Academy is very simple: She's strong, and she's tough. Strong enough to rip through armor plate with her bare hands, and tough enough to stand in the middle of an artillery barrage without being hurt, but still, not a complicated power. She considers it less valuable than her ability to manipulate people.

Genevieve has been tricking people since she was old enough to speak. It's her principal survival trait, and lying comes as easily to her as breathing now. The words she chooses, the tone of voice, the accent she uses, her body language... all of it goes together in ways she sometimes isn't even consciously aware of to sell the fiction she wants. She's also good at robbing people, and seeing through deceptions herself, although the people of Freedom City are... bizarrely honest, by her standards. It makes her self-conscious about her own lies.


Alt-power set:

Impervious Toughness 8 * 8 points

Leaping 8, Acrobatics check required, 1 Alternate Effect * 5 points
Speed 4

Bracing - Sustained Impervious Toughness 4, 2 Alternate Effects * 6 points
Numbing Strike - Weaken Fighting 8, Fortitude resists, Limited to vulnerable/defenseless enemies, Linked to Strength damage
Strong Legs - Leaping 4 (up to 12 total)

Same cost, but with less of an emphasis on lifting heavy things. Closer to the original character idea of "feint an enemy and then clobber them." A little synergy with Imp Impossible, too.

[Hero4hire]

Thanks Boots for providing the info. I would like to add the Ultimen are a pastiche of Marvels Eternals, complete with cosmic enervy manipulation.

The Utopian Envoy is from Utopia Isle. Kinda like Wonder Woman's Themyscria but co ed.

Statguard, I am fine with a Scarab Reborn with a different power set.
Actually I kinda like the idea.

I am posting from my phone. So more detail amd comments to come later from my laptop.

[Hero4hire]

Rain, try Storn Cook art or someone similar. He posts a lot of character art.

[Hero4hire]

Alright, is this going to be set in modern times with our smartphones and flat screen HD televisions, as well as whatever superscience has been brought to light by the likes of MarsTech or whatever?

Modern times

[Hero4hire]

So far the shambala master has not been taken. Question, what's your take on variable?

The Power or the Extra?

The former needs to be intrinsic to the concept. Power Mimic, Shapeshifter, etc.

The Extra I am fine with.

[Camus]

Name: Sanzo Toya, the Shambala Master AKA The Hand Height 1.6mts
Ethnicity: Japanese Weight 60kg
Hair: Black Feature Bald
Eyes: Black Age: 60



The Masters of Shambala have always searched the path to the Land of Eternal Bliss, where the cosmic entity known in Earth as Buddha, resides. They wished to reach this palce before their mortal bodies perished, as they thought it was the path to salvation. This path exists, but is tricky, as it is in reality a portal to a pocket dimension. This troubled Buddha, he was in charge of ordering different planes of existence to sort out the mortal's souls, and the continuous search of the Shamballa masters complicated things. So he summoned envoys from the enlightened ones that resided in his paradisaical plan, and dispatched them to instruct the Shamballans into how to reach true enlightenment, a state of mind that allows them to be empowered by Buddha's will, and that would preserve their bodies until the time comes for them to be taken to the Land of Eternal Bliss. One of such envoys was a man known as Sanzo Toya, the first japanese buddhist monk who reached enlightening.
Sanzo was an enlightened monk in the sengoku period of Japan. A preacher of peace in times of war, Sanzo endured many tantrums. He became famous when he decided to offer his eyesight to a Daimyo for him to stop the attacks on innocent villagers. The cruel despot not only took Sanzo's eyesight, but also kept masacring the villagers. It is said divine punishment descended upon him as he froze in battle a few days later, and was slain by the enemy. Sanzo dedicated the years of his life to continue preaching peace and order throughout japan, getting monikers like "The Hand of Buddha", "The Bind Monk" and the like. Since his awakening in the Land of Eternal Bliss after his death, he regained his eyesight, but still keeps his eyes shut, to heighten his spiritual power, only opening them to employ his most powerful techniques.
He spend decades with the Shamballa masters, teaching them the arts of Buddha, and learning the martial techniques of the Shamballans. He was a pacifist, and have not learnt to fight before. But the Shamballa Masters taught him of the harsh reality of the world today, a world different in many aspects compared to ancient Japan, but in some others, very much alike. Sanzo then understood that the Shamballa were not the only ones who needed to be enlightened; the rest of the world needed his help too!
Earth had changed very much since Sanzo's body died, and at first he found himself lost among so much chaos. However, he managed to start spreading order and peace were he walked, albeit the barriers that presented his attitude and demeanour from ancient times. Soon the people started calling him by the names of old, finding extreme resemblance with the historic records of his past.
In the past The Hand walked the earth to end evil. Now, he land again.

Quotes
"Everything is relative under the gaze of Buddha"

"Shi wa owari dewanai!" (Death is not the end)

"Mitte! Ten wa matte iru!" (Behold! Heaven is waiting)

Complications
Pacifist : Despite being able to harm others in various ways, he fisrtly resorts to non aggressive measures, such as Kahn, or the Visions of the Land of Ethernal Bliss,
Enlightened : He might sould lofty and over the top with his preaching of enlightenment, or people's lack of it
Motivation: Change the world : His mission is to correct what is wrong in the world, at least in his worldview
Life is precious : He will go to great leangths to not take a life, or stop others from doing it, even when in the great scheme of things it would be detrimental to itself

Abilities ( 80 pp)
Strength 10 , Stamina 10 , Agility 5 , Dexterity 0 , Fighting 10 , Intellect 0 , Awareness 5 , Precence 0 .

Powers ( 36 pp)
- Fist of Buddha ( Strength effect : Penetrating 10, Subtle 1 ) · 11 point/s
- Palm of Buddha (AP: Strength effect : Affects insubstantials, Alternate resistance Will, Secondary effect ) · 1 point/s
- Chakra disruption (AP: Nullify 10 : Senses. Subtle, Variable descriptor 2, Reduced Rangte, Effortless ) · 1 point/s
- Visions of the Land of Eternal Bliss (AP: Affliction 10 : Dazed, Stuned, Paralyzed. Will. Perception (Sight) Area ) · 1 point/s

- Kahn ( Create 10 : Impervious, Selective, Subtle 1, Concentration, Limited (hollow spheres), Quirk (must be sitting), Reduced range ) · 10 point/s
- The wheel of Dharma ( AP: Healing : Temporary ) · 1 point/s
- Enlightened vision ( AP: Senses : Counters all concealment (visual), Penetrates concealment (visual), Radius (visual) ) · 1 point/s

- Trasend the flesh ( Immunity : Aging, Disease, Poison, All environmental conditions. Limited: Half effect ) · 4 point/s
- Eyes closed, mind open ( Senses : Accurate (hearing), Danger sense (hearing) ) · 3 point/s
- Quick of motion ( Speed 3 : 0 ) · 3 point/s

Power descriptions
Fist of Buddha: This technique turns Sanzo's fist in metal bending, lightning fast weapons, so fast the opponents don't even see them as they tear into them.
Palm of Buddha: Sanzo extends his hand in an open palm, which begins to glow with golden energy. Opponents touched by it feel their consciousness , problems and concerns fade away, leaving a blank state of calm and peace, as a giant image of Buddha is all they can see in their minds. The effect is lingering once affected by this technique.
Chakra disruption: By blocking the flow of energy in the opponent's Chakra points, Sanzo can temporally nullify the target's senses, to render them harmless.
Visions of the Land of Eternal Bliss: One of the few occasions when Sanzo opens his eyes is to use this technique. By murmuring the ancient mantras and performing the mudras (hand gestures of Buddhism) Sanzo shares with his enemies the vision of the Land of Eternal Bliss, the promised land to those who reach enlightenment. The vision is so perfect and beautiful that is too much for the senses of the unenlightened. This leaves them stunned and paralyzed in awe.
Kahn: Sanzo sits and invokes the mantra of protection, creating an impervious dome of golden energy that shields those around him. The shimmering sphere is not easy to perceive.
The wheel of Dharma: This mudras clears the doubts and fears from the subject's minds, allowing them to overcome pain.
Enlightened vision: One of the few occasions when Sanzo opens his eyes is to use this technique. in this state he can see everything around him, no worldly obstacle impairing the unforgiving gaze of the shambala master.

Advantages ( 14 pp)
All out attack 1 , Evasion 2 , Fast grab 1 , Fearless 1 , Imp. Critical 1 , Imp. Grab 1 , Imp. Hold 1 , Imp. Trip 1 , Power attack 1 , Prone Fighting 1 , Trance 1 , Uncanny dodge 1 , Impoved initiative 1

Skills ( 10 pp)
Acrobatics 6 (+ 11 ), Deception 0 (+ 0 ), Athletics 2 (+ 12 ), Expertise 0 (+ 0 ), Insight 6 (+ 11 ), Treatment 0 (+ 0 ), Persuacion 0 (+ 0 ), Technology 0 (+ 0 ), Vehicles 0 (+ 5 ), Sleight of Hand 0 (+ 0 ), Perception 6 (+ 11 ), Intimidation 0 (+ 0 ), Investigation 0 (+ 0 ), Stealth 0 (+ 5 )

Offence
Initiative: 9
Fist of Buddha + 10 Attack for DC: 25 Range: Melee ( )
Palm of Buddha + 10 Attack for DC: 25 Range: Melee ( )
The Treasures of Heaven + 10 Attack for DC: 20 Range: Melee ( )
Visions of the Land of Eternal Bliss + Area attack Attack for DC: 20 Range: Perception area ( )

Defence ( 10 pp)
Parry: Rank ( 0 ) + Feat/power ( 0 ) + Equipment ( 0 )= 10
Dodge: Rank ( 0 ) + Feat/power ( 0 ) + Equipment ( 0 )= 10
Toughness: 0 Feat/power ( 0 ) + Equipment ( 0 )= 10
Fortitude: Rank ( 5 ) + Feat/power ( 0 ) + Equipment ( 0 )= 10
Will: Rank ( 5 ) + Feat/power ( 0 ) + Equipment ( 0 )= 10

[EpicEclipse]

I think I am going to submit a more support/role combat medic type character. I'm not talking like a heal-bot per se, or someone who can't protect themselves, but someone whose main goal isn't massive damage. I think we get plenty of those

[Doctor Malsyn]

I think I am going to submit a more support/role combat medic type character. I'm not talking like a heal-bot per se, or someone who can't protect themselves, but someone whose main goal isn't massive damage. I think we get plenty of those

How coincidental, I was thinking of making one of those too. If you're wanting to do that, I can probably come up with something else myself.

[Camus]

I think I am going to submit a more support/role combat medic type character. I'm not talking like a heal-bot per se, or someone who can't protect themselves, but someone whose main goal isn't massive damage. I think we get plenty of those

How coincidental, I was thinking of making one of those too. If you're wanting to do that, I can probably come up with something else myself.

Well actually the character I just submitted is kinda that.

[EpicEclipse]

I think I am going to submit a more support/role combat medic type character. I'm not talking like a heal-bot per se, or someone who can't protect themselves, but someone whose main goal isn't massive damage. I think we get plenty of those

How coincidental, I was thinking of making one of those too. If you're wanting to do that, I can probably come up with something else myself.

Well actually the character I just submitted is kinda that.

I'd contest that having a low-rank temporary healing power does not a combat medic make, but you do have a point that your hero focuses more on debuffing effects over outright damage (Though he has super strength and a penetrating strike despite being a pacifist )